Yahoo Brings Back 5 Ex-Employees In Latest Deal

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - Yahoo has bought Silicon Valley startup Jybe so it can bring back five of its former engineers to help the Internet company build better mobile applications.

The deal announced Wednesday marks Yahoo's fourth acquisition of a small startup during the past five months. In each instance, Yahoo been more interested in obtaining the startups' brainpower than the services that they provided.

As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo Inc. didn't disclose the purchase price.

Jybe's mobile service that gathered people's recommendations about food and entertainment is closing down so its five employees can focus on other projects at Yahoo Inc. All five Jybe workers were formerly employed at Yahoo before the company hired former Google Inc. executive Marissa Mayer as its CEO eight months ago.